AAP’s Delhi Dialogue Commission has been in touch with Sinha for “broad suggestions” on the Budget, which is to be presented on March 28.

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party may have relegated senior leader Yashwant Sinha to the margins in the party, but Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has coopted the former Union finance minister as a ‘margdarshak’ or guide of sorts for the state Budget being readied by the Aam Aadmi Party government.

AAP’s Delhi Dialogue Commission has been in touch with Sinha for “broad suggestions” on the Budget, which is to be presented on March 28, people aware of the matter said.

Sinha will interact with officers of the finance department, led by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and with the Delhi legislators on March 15, when intricacies of the Budget are scheduled to be discussed, they said.

Confirming as much to ET, Sinha said he had accepted the invitation sent on behalf of Delhi Assembly to talk to the members about the processes and procedures of Budget-making. “Since I have been finance minister, they think I will be able to explain the intricacies of the Budget to the legislators,” he said. The BJP leader said he had accepted similar invitations from Pakistan as well.

Under the current dispensation in BJP, Sinha, 83, who has been publicly critical of some of Modi government’s policies, did not find a place even in the party’s Margdarshak Mandal, or panel of guides. The five-member panel includes veteran leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi among those who are not in the government.

Secretary of Delhi Legislative Assembly, Prasanna Kumar Suryadevara, said Sinha is the best person to interact with legislators, most of whom are first-timers. “It is important they understand intricacies of the Budget,” he said.

Last year, Suryadevara said, former revenue secretary and Rajya Sabha member NK Singh had been invited for the orientation. This time round, they were looking for somebody who could throw light on the political dimension of Budget-making, he said.

The Delhi government comes out with its Budget after the Centre allocates funds to it from the Union Budget. For 2016-17, Delhi has been allotted Rs 758 crore. The AAP government has also streamlined the process of Mohalla Sabhas or crowdsourcing of ideas for the upcoming Budget.

Delhi government spokesman Nagendra Sharma said MLAs will go to their constituencies after allocations have been made. “Earlier, we had done it only in 11 constituencies. This time it will be done in all 70. MLAs will get feedback on priorities in their areas,” he said.